‘People are the highlight of my trip’
Going back in time: Marius Boncutiu and his bike in Mongolia
In June 2016, 36-year-old Marius Boncutiu quit his job, packed a tent, and a few essentials onto his BMW F650 GS Dakar motorcycle, and set off from his native Romania, on a solo Eurasian road trip which will span two years and take him through over 25 countries.
We meet him on the sandy beaches of Negombo where he tells us how it had always been his life-long dream to travel and fully experience what each country had to offer. He had travelled earlier to over a 100 countries, but was always constrained by the time factor. “I needed to quit my job to accomplish my dream,” he says, adding that he was inspired by the old British documentary ‘Mundo Enduro’ which chronicles the round-the-world motorcycle expedition of a group of Brits.
After setting off from Transylvania in Romania, he entered the Republic of Moldova, and then crossed through the autonomous territory of Transnistria, into Ukraine and to Belarus and Russia. Starting in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, he travelled on to Moscow and down south to the Caucasus Mountains and Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe. From there he then rode up north to cross the invisible marker near the Ural mountains, which divides the continents of Europe and Asia, into the great landmass known as Siberia.
In Russia he stayed in mostly truck stop motels, but more often than not, he’d meet Russian bikers who opened their homes to him. “The hospitality is the best thing I’ve experienced. The Russians are top notch. I knew they were nice …but actually they exceeded my expectations,” he says.
Halfway through his Russian tour he detoured towards the Altai Mountains to Mongolia which has in the last few decades become popular among adventurers and motorcycle enthusiasts for its scenic landscape and challenging terrain. “It’s really beautiful over there. It’s life as it was 100 years ago. There are no roads as we know it with asphalt and junctions. No police officers, no shops, no electricity,” says Marius. But it was challenging. The lack of infrastructure, though lending to the unspoiled beauty of the landscape, meant that tasks such as crossing rivers were more of crossing through them than over them.
“I also had trouble with the sand,” he says, speaking of the desert terrain in Mongolia. With the bike being so heavy he had to speed through the sand or risk the bike sinking,” he recalls.
Marius then rode back to Russia and journeyed towards Russia’s far east, ending up in Vladivostok from where he took a ferry to Japan. After riding across Japan, he shipped his bike to Chennai, India. There was no ferry to bring the bike across to Sri Lanka and moreover, the main purpose of his three-week visit to Sri Lanka, was to learn technical diving and dive to the famous HMS Hermes, the World War II wreck off the coast of Batticaloa, one of only three dive-able air carrier wrecks in the world.
Marius Boncutiu on a beach in Negombo
He visited Sigiriya and the Gal Viharaya in Polonnaruwa. “I saw a wild elephant. It was fantastic,” he says enthusiastically but, diving the HMS Hermes was the highlight of his trip. “It was one of the best experiences I’ve had,” he says.
Flying back to Chennai and his motorcycle he will ride to Goa and Leh. From his time riding in Chennai, he already knows that India will be a challenge with its notoriously bad traffic. Driving in India is like skiing according to Marius, you only focus on what’s in front of you, what’s happening behind you or on either side is none of your concern.
From India, Marius intends to complete the rest of his tour of Asia and Central Asia, first crossing into Nepal, from where he’ll ride through Myanmar, Laos, China, and into Tibet. From Tibet he’ll then embark on the Central Asian leg of his journey travelling to Kazakhstan, into Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan along the famed Pamir Highway, officially known as the M41, which was built during the Soviet era and spans over 2000km through Central Asia.
He’ll then enter Iran, which he looks forward to as he’s heard its “absolutely spectacular” and that the people are very nice.
He will then make his way back to Europe, traversing Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, and Turkey, where he’ll cross back into the European continent and into Bulgaria, before returning to Romania before winter hits.
Most memorable so far has been his encounter with a group of rambunctious bikers at Lake Baikal in Russia. The group accosted him at a truck stop hearing his foreign accent and though he anticipated trouble, when they heard he was travelling through Russia they accepted him with open arms. “They hugged me when they found out I came to visit Russia and they bought me food and beer … I thought they were going to kill me and they became the nicest people!” Marius fondly recalls.
“People are the highlight of this trip,” he reiterates.
In fact it seems that what you need most of all for a journey of this scale is an understanding that each country is different, not too many expectations, and an optimistic world view.